Health gem

If you do one thing this week . . . bump up your berry intake

I’m always a little wary of claims that a particular food can have specific health effects over the long term, but a study about berries and brain function that recently caught my eye warrants a mention.

Published in the Annals of Neurology, the researchers analysed data in periodic food questionnaires from a long-term study of women starting in 1980, and in 1995 to 2001 they started measuring cognitive function in more than 16,000 participants who were aged 70 years or above, then following up twice at two-year intervals.

What did they find? “Greater intakes of blueberries and strawberries were associated with slower rates of cognitive decline,” write the authors, adding that in the cohort they examined, the findings indicate “ . . . that berry intake appears to delay cognitive ageing by up to 2.5 years”.